Tottenham are capable of winning the Premier League, according to Brighton and Hove Albion head coach Roberto De Zerbi.
The Italian faces compatriot Antonio Conte's side on Saturday in his first home game since taking over from Graham Potter at the Amex Stadium.
Brighton could leapfrog Spurs into third with a win, with the Seagulls currently sitting fourth in the Premier League table, three points and three goals behind the north London club having played a game fewer.
After losing at rivals Arsenal last Sunday, Spurs are four points off the Gunners at the summit, but speaking at a press conference on Friday, De Zerbi thinks Conte's men can still challenge.
"I think Tottenham are in the right condition to win the Premier League," he said. "It's not easy, because there's [Manchester] City, Liverpool, Chelsea, but in the transfer market they bought very good players and after one year to work with Antonio, I think they are able to win the Premier League.
"The squad is better than one or two years ago. If he doesn't play [Dejan] Kulusevski, he plays Richarlison, if he doesn't play [Pierre-Emile] Hojbjerg or [Rodrigo] Bentancur, he can play [former Brighton midfielder, Yves] Bissouma.
"Tottenham are a good team, not only the first 11 – but 20 or 22 players."
De Zerbi's reign at Brighton got underway with an impressive 3-3 draw at Liverpool last Saturday, with Leandro Trossard scoring a hat-trick at Anfield.
"I never speak about the result, but my teams always play with courage and braveness," De Zerbi said. "I want my team playing to make the game with personality and the right mentality to build the right condition to win the game."
The former Sassuolo and Shakhtar Donetsk coach also said it could take time for his influence on the team to be seen, but conceded he does not intend to change much from Potter's successful time at the club before the Englishman left for Chelsea.
"It is a difficult moment for a lot of things, for the language, for the new staff, the new team, for the new ideas," he said. "I would like to put more ideas in... I don't want to change that much, but of course I want to put my hand [on the squad].
"If [owner] Tony Bloom and [chief executive] Paul Barber have chosen me, it means they want to see the team playing with my idea of football.
"At the same time you have to deal with not changing too much, but also how to put my ideas on top."
Tributes will be paid at Saturday's game to Tottenham's fitness coach Gian Piero Ventrone, who died earlier this week at the age of 61 after being diagnosed with leukaemia.
"We are very sad for this loss," De Zerbi said. "Some of my assistant staff knew Gian Piero. We are sorry for him, for Antonio and his staff and for the family.
"It was very bad news for Tottenham, but also for people who work in our football world."
Conte fumes at VAR after 1-1 draw with Inter
Antonio Conte was frustrated that VAR did not reverse a penalty decision against Napoli as they played out a 1-1 draw with Inter on Sunday.
Hakan Calhanoglu failed to convert the spot kick in question late in the game, with the Turkish international having equalised for the hosts after Scott McTominay's opener.
Despite the decision not affecting the result in the end, Conte criticised VAR for not overruling the referee's decision to penalise Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa for a foul on Denzel Dumfries.
"Can they [VAR] only intervene when it suits them? A decision from the referee like this can transform a match and VAR cannot do anything about it," Conte told DAZN.
"Either VAR is there to correct errors or it is not. If there is an error, it has to intervene. It really angers me, but it does to all coaches. It has to intervene if there is a mistake.
"If there is VAR, it must be used to correct errors or show the referee situations that he did not see. If it's a clear error, and it was, then why should [referee Maurizio] Mariani be allowed to just do that."
Despite his frustration with refereeing decisions, Conte was satisfied with his team's performance, as they held strong against a spirited second-half display from the Italian champions.
"I said that we would not come here to just be sparring partners against the strongest squad in Serie A, so it was important for us to face them with strength, character, accepting duels all over the field," he said.
"On that score, I am very satisfied. It was not easy to play here. We all know that we are making improvements and working hard, otherwise, you don't come to San Siro twice and also against Juventus without defeat.
"The lads are proving themselves, though, of course, we could've done much, much more in terms of quality today. There were too many errors, a lot of technical errors, but I am sure there will be further improvements."
Napoli's point ensured they stayed top of Serie A heading into the international break, moving them to 26 points in what is shaping up to be a tight title race. Conte's side sit one point clear of Atalanta, Fiorentina, Inter and Lazio.
Premier League MD11: Lucky winners and unlucky losers
The final international break of 2024 is here, and we can safely say the Premier League is starting to take shape.
Opta's supercomputer now has Liverpool, who are five points clear at the top following their win over Aston Villa on Saturday, as the favourites to go on and win the title.
Manchester City lost a fourth straight game in all competitions as they went down 2-1 at Brighton, while Chelsea and Arsenal are third and fourth respectively after sharing the points.
When assessing the underlying metrics, it looks like Sunday's draw at Stamford Bridge was a fair result, but that was not the case across the board this weekend.
Here, we pick out the lucky winners and unlucky losers from matchday 11.
Lucky winners: Manchester United
Manchester United are now under new management, with Ruben Amorim officially starting as head coach on Monday. But interim boss Ruud van Nistelrooy ensured he went out with a high as the Red Devils beat Leicester City 3-0 on Sunday.
However, it is fair to say United were rather fortunate to net three times at Old Trafford, with the data suggesting they did not even create chances worthy of one goal, never mind three.
United's expected goals (xG) was 0.69, the third-lowest total in the league this weekend and behind Leicester's 0.77.
Bruno Fernandes scored one and set up another on his 250th appearance for the club, either side of Victor Kristiansen's own goal, but from 13 shots, United, who had only 17 touches in Leicester's box, really did not create much in the way of quality opportunities.
Indeed, their attacking quality instead told, with Fernandes and Alejandro Garnacho finishing well. At the other end, Leicester failed to make their moments count, despite hitting the target with five of their six shots.
Spare a thought for Erik ten Hag, given when he was in charge, United's attack was underperforming. Now Amorim just needs to pick up where Van Nistelrooy left off...
Unlucky losers: Manchester City
Man City are suddenly the crisis club, having lost four straight games for the first time since August 2006. Pep Guardiola, meanwhile, has lost four games in a row in all competitions for the very first time in his managerial career.
Erling Haaland also lost a Premier League match in which he scored a goal for the very first time, having put City ahead before Joao Pedro and Matt O'Riley clinched the points for Brighton.
Brighton finished with 2.29 xG, so they did deserve to score at least twice. However, City can still consider themselves unfortunate, given their 2.22 xG was the third-highest of any team across the weekend.
Their post-shot expected goals on target (xGoT) also rose to 2.98, showing that Brighton goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen was on fine form.
City also created five big chances, missing four of them, and hit the woodwork once. That being said, they conceded eight big chances, with Brighton letting them off for six of those, so it was not a good day at the office for Guardiola.
Unlucky losers: Bournemouth
If Man City were unfortunate, then the team to have created the highest xG (2.61) this past weekend – Bournemouth – can consider themselves hard done by.
Andoni Iraola claimed his team were worthy of the three points against Brentford, despite the Cherries losing 3-2, and the underlying metrics suggest the Spaniard was fair in his assessment.
Only Tottenham (35 in their loss against Ipswich Town) had more touches in the opponent's box than Bournemouth's 34 at the Gtech Community Stadium, but Iraola's side were made to pay for some dismal finishing.
Their xGoT dropped to 1.68, while Brentford's rose from 1.48 xG to 1.84 xGoT – essentially, the level of finishing from Brentford's players increased the likelihood they would score, while Bournemouth's finishing was below what would have been anticipated based on the quality of chances they had. That is further backed up by the fact the Cherries only got three of their 15 attempts on target.
'It's been a long time,' says McKenna after Ipswich stun Tottenham for first league win
Ipswich Town boss Kieran McKenna said it was a 'special' moment for the club after they earned their first Premier League win of the season by beating Tottenham 2-1.
Sammie Szmodics and Liam Delap scored for Ipswich before half-time at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Though Tottenham reduced the deficit through Rodrigo Bentancur in the 69th minute, the Tractor Boys held on for a famous win.
It was also Ipswich's first win in the Premier League since a 1-0 victory over Middlesborough in April 2002, ending a run of 12 away games without a win (D3 L9).
"I am so proud. It's been a long time for the club, 22 years since the supporters saw a win in the Premier League. The journey to get to here has been a big one," McKenna told BBC Sport after the game.
"It feels a bit special today. We believe we’ve been improving. We had picked up five out of 10 results but were waiting for the first win to validate the work and improvements. It’s a massive moment, one to cherish."
The result was extra special for an Ipswich side, who were denied a win by Leicester City last week through a 94th-minute equaliser from Jordan Ayew, who made it 1-1 at Portman Road.
But Szmodics and Delap – the latter with his sixth Premier League goal of the season – struck in the first half to give Ipswich a two-goal cushion.
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